Artists Adam Eckstrom and Lauren Was—the husband and wife who work under the name Ghost of a Dream—collected some of the trash that was left behind at US art fairs, and that would otherwise have ended up in landfills. Using these discarded materials, the couple created a small house and a host of other objects, including paintings that are displayed inside the structure exactly as they would be hung if they were being shown at a fair: tightly packed, competing for the audience’s attention.

The exhibition also includes a multi-channel video. In the latter, the house that the two artists constructed is shown in a field near a lake, and the viewer watches as the building is slowly enveloped by fog, vanishing into thin air after the fog dissipates.

The interior of the house built by Ghost of a Dream. (Image courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photo by Etienne Frossard.)

According to the duo, “[Art fairs] can be a terrible way to see art, packed together, each piece struggling to make its presence known. And after the last collector leaves, and the artwork is packed up, there are mountains of trash left behind.”

Their exhibition also compares the volatility of the art world to that of the housing market, a subject with which most artists must contend as they struggle to establish and maintain their studio spaces even as neighborhoods change around them. “With this work, we question the viability of the [art] market, its long-term sustainability, and its relation to the cycles of boom and bust that often correspond in the housing markets.”

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About Sofia Perez

A journalist and writer/editor with more than 25 years of experience, Sofia Perez has written for nearly every type of media and genre--from print and web publications, to TV, nonprofit advocacy, and fiction--and understands firsthand how important it is for creative professionals to learn basic business skills if they are to support their artistic endeavors.

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About Sofia Perez

A journalist and writer/editor with more than 25 years of experience, Sofia Perez has written for nearly every type of media and genre--from print and web publications, to TV, nonprofit advocacy, and fiction--and understands firsthand how important it is for creative professionals to learn basic business skills if they are to support their artistic endeavors.